Annual Parish Meeting

MINUTES OF THE CLAXBY ANNUAL PARISH MEETING Thursday 12th May 2022 at 7.30 p.m. Village Hall, Claxby

Present: Brian Hunter, Julia Lindley-Baker, Judith Pilbrow, Helen Wilson, Ian Cumber and 6 members of the public. Also present: Cllr Stephen Bunney and David Beer (parish Clerk)

 

1. To approve and sign draft minutes of the previous meeting held 26th May 2021. Duly signed.

 

2. To receive the Chair’s report on Parish Council Activities during the past year:

The chair reported that over the last 12 months, potholes on Normanby Rise, Park Rd, and Pelham Rd were reported. Finally, a section of roadside was repaired on Normanby Rise. 

Concern was expressed about the lack of police presence in the area. 

Several problems arose with HSBC Bank so the Council’s bank was changed to Unity.

The double noticeboard was repaired and new tourism posters are to be redesigned for all three notice boards. 

Two new picnic tables and two new bench seats were purchased and placed in the playing field and dog exercise area, plus a new goal post was installed.

It was agreed to have 4 meetings a year instead of 3.

Councillors and clerk met with ACIS to discuss damp problems at the village hall caused by soil against the wall.

A planning application was received to build 4 new homes on the Langham House site, and after meetings with the planning committee the plans were changed to two dwellings, and these plans were accepted by the Council.

Two additional salt bins have been installed on Mulberry Rd and the corner of Church Lane.

A gritting and grass cutting contract has been arranged with Alastair Williams.

The telephone kiosk has been repaired and adapted into a library/book swap.

Concerns were raised about house numbering in the village, but as changing them would involve a cost to each resident affected, no further action was taken.

Concerns were raised about a planning application to further develop a Motocross track at Thoresway, and some development has already taken place.

Mark Reeves was co-opted onto the Council to fill a vacancy.

Cllrs Lindley-Baker and Pilbrow held a fund-raising event in the village hall and raised over £200 for cancer research.

The Harvest Supper at the Viking Centre raised over £270 for the Salvation Army and £616.80 was raised for the poppy appeal by Ken Griffen and his team of helpers.

A coffee morning was held at the Viking Centre to raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine and £800 was raised and sent to the Disasters Emergency Committee. With Gift Aid this amounted to a donation of £1000.

The village marquee has been repaired with funds from the Jubilee Grant.

A new defibrillator is to be obtained from WLDC who will also maintain it.

£70 was allocated to the village to purchase and decorate a Christmas tree.

David Lofthouse was formally thanked for his instigation of the agreement to set up Ultra Fast Fibre FTTP Broadband in the village. In order to achieve this, Claxby Community Fibre Broadband Ltd had been formed with Mr Lofthouse as MD and Ian Forster and the late Howard Thompson as directors so the contract could be signed. Data from residents was collected by Ian Forster, John Clark and Sue Roebuck. A vast amount of time was spent collecting sufficient numbers to allow the village to apply through the voucher scheme, and the whole village has benefitted from it.

 

3. To receive a report on current Parish Council finances from the Responsible Finance Officer.

The council’s reserves stood at £21974 at the year end, which has been carried forward to 2022/23 financial year. This includes the £10000 grant that was ring-fenced for the village hall and this will now go towards the ongoing refurbishment.

TOTAL INCOME for the year was 7112.71 of which £5407 was the precept. Other income included a Councillor Initiative Grant of £586 for payment towards the defibrillator (when it arrives) and anything left over from the grant will go towards more equipment for the playing field. There was also £100 payment for hire of the hall for local elections and £100 compensation from HSBC for their poor service.

Expenditure was 5564.85. We had very little major expenditure; - the largest expense was the purchase of picnic benches at £891.60. Income was greater than expenditure by around £1548.00. 

The Council decided that the precept should remain the same as last year.

 

4. Open meeting.

A question about the “policing” of the contents of blue bins was raised as several villagers had not had their bins emptied in the recent collection. Cllr Bunney reassured the meeting that the situation should improve over the coming weeks as people got used to the new rules, and there may be a change in the company being employed to deal with recycling.

There being no other business the meeting closed at 7.50.